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15 October 2010 / Michael Tringham
Issue: 7437 / Categories: Features , Wills & Probate
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Costs & consequences

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Michael Tringham reports on recent disputes & troubles

Another intestacy seems to have left the disputing parties with little more than legal costs to argue over. The late Raymond Zeital, a north London accountant, used to incorporate limited liability companies in order to keep his financial affairs secret—often using aliases such as “Rafatjoo”. Following his death Mr Zeital’s sole beneficiaries—his wife, from whom he had separated 20 years earlier, and two daughters—claimed the net proceeds of the sale of a flat owned by one of his companies in which, they asserted, they owned one of two issued shares.

Their claim was disputed by the acknowledged owner of the other share, Stefka Appostolova, with whom Mr Zeital formed a relationship after the separation. The company had been struck off the Companies House register, then restored upon Stefka’s application, and finally placed in voluntary (possibly insolvent) liquidation.

The Court of Appeal has finally decided, 6½ years after Mr Zeital’s death, that his purported transfer of a share to Stefka “fell so far short of the

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NEWS
A wave of housing and procedural reforms is set to test the limits of tribunal capacity. In his latest Civil Way column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold charts sweeping change as the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 begins biting
Plans to reduce jury trials risk missing the real problem in the criminal justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, David Wolchover of Ridgeway Chambers argues the crown court backlog is fuelled not by juries but weak cases slipping through a flawed ‘50%’ prosecution test
Emerging technologies may soon transform how courts determine truth in deeply personal disputes. In this week's NLJ, Madhavi Kabra of 1 Hare Court and Harry Lambert of Outer Temple Chambers explore how neurotechnology could reshape family law
A controversial protest case has reignited debate over the limits of free expression. In NLJ this week, Nicholas Dobson examines a Quran-burning incident testing public order law
The courts have drawn a firm line under attempts to extend arbitration appeals. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed of the University of Leicester highlights that if the High Court refuses permission under s 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996, that is the end
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